Almost all of us have at one time or another drawn a line in the sand. What it meant was that we were challenging someone to stay out of our space. We were giving them permission to go this far and no farther. In Ephesian 6 Paul talks about a line in the sand. What you see in the picture is an example of a line that someone has drawn. As we talk about Ephesians 6, especially verses 10 to 12 I'd like you to imagine that you're on the left side of the line and that someone else, an enemy perhaps, is on the other side of that line. The title of this message, Hold The Line, is saying that Paul wants us to stand firmly on the left side of the line and prevent our enemy from coming across the line and harming us.
In verse 10 of chapter 6 Paul starts with the word, “Finally”.
He's telling his readers to think about the way ahead, the challenges that are going to come at them from “the right side of the line.”.
Another way to translate the word “finally” would be to use the word “henceforth”. He wants his readers to see what's coming at them, but also, to take care that they are ready for what's coming. In this paragraph Paul is not going to tell them to walk or run but rather to stand.
You see the word “stand” in verse 11 and you'll see it again several times in verse 13. He tells them to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Both of the words, strong and power, come from the word in Greek from which we get our word dynamite.
Paul is saying that they are going to need something as strong as dynamite to stand firmly on the left side of the line. Nothing less will do. But you may be saying, "I can't ". You may be thinking, "I've tried and tried, but I always fail.”
Never fear! You see the little word after the word strong "in ". That word ‘in’ told Paul's readers that they were not alone. Over and over again in this little letter, Paul has used the word “in” together with the word “Christ”. Thirty two times he has talked about them as being "in Christ”.
Are you starting to get the picture as you and I are standing on the left side of the line?
We are not standing beside Christ or the Lord as it's put here. We are "in Christ ".
The word “in” means that we and Jesus Christ are in a very, very close union. Earlier in the book of Ephesians Paul said that we the believers are the body of Christ and the Christ is the head of that body. That suggests a closeness, that makes it impossible for anything coming at us from the other side of the line to come between us and Christ.
He will protect us from whatever our attacked wants to do to us. A further way of thinking about all this is to reflect back upon the first chapter of Ephesians where Paul has used this word “power” to talk about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
Jesus was dead, a soldier had made sure of that. As well, Joseph of Arimathea had placed Jesus body in a stone tomb, quite a bit like a cave. Then he had rolled a stone, a big stone in front of the opening to ensure that no one could get in and take the body of Jesus.
Nevertheless, Jesus had gotten out of there, out of death, and out of the tomb. Ephesians 1 says there was only one thing that could get him out of there, and that was the power of God or the dynamite of God. As you and I stand on the left side of the line, Christ is with us, and with him comes the dynamite of God. We are quite secure.
Now we'll move on from verse 10 to verse 11. In that verse, Paul talks about armour, the things that soldiers wear to protect themselves. This makes sense because he's telling us that we're standing on the left side of the line like a soldier. Obviously we could use armour to help us in our stand. I'm going to talk more about this armour a little bit later, but I want to now draw your attention to the last two words of this sentence. The words are the “devil's schemes ".
Paul is saying that as we stand on the left side of this line in the sand one being who is going to come at us is the "devil ". He is the enemy that we have to face as we stand there united with Christ and wearing a special suit of armour. What did Paul mean by the word “schemes”?
Here in this little book to the Ephesians he has mentioned the devil's schemes several times.
At one point he says that the devil is trying to get a foothold in our lives. He's looking for a chance when we have our guard down and he can get his foot in the door. It could be something like fatigue, or it could be that we have entertained sinful thoughts, or it could be that we have neglected to refresh our minds on a daily basis in the word of God.